Koraput: Police on Tuesday arrested a 21-year-old man and two of his aides for murdering his wife and trying to mislead cops by staging a fake robbery.
Police said Mahendra Khora, a resident of Hariamunda village, murdered his wife, Sabitri, with the help of two friends, Mahesh Mali (21) and Somnath Bhoi (19). The trio reportedly struck Sabitri on the head with a log before trying to cook up a story of robbery gone wrong to derail the investigation.
The incident allegedly took place on Monday around 7 pm while the couple was returning to Hariamunda, 14 km away from Nandapur, on a motorcycle. The couple had visited Nandapur to link Sabitri’s Aadhaar card for the Subhadra Yojana. Just 1 km from their village, Mahendra’s associates intercepted the couple, and the three men thrashed Sabitri with a log before strangulating her, police said.
“In an attempt to disguise the murder as a robbery, Mahendra’s associates allegedly tied him to a tree, assaulted him superficially to make it appear as though he had been attacked by robbers. The suspects then took Sabitri’s jewellery to substantiate their claim of a robbery,” said Sambit Majhi, SDPO of Nandapur.
The incident came to light when two travellers passing by heard Mahendra’s cries for help. They freed him and alerted other villagers, prompting Mahendra to recount his version of events. However, during police interrogation, Mahendra and his associates confessed to the crime. “Mahendra said he had planned to kill his wife eight days back over marital dispute,” the SDPO said.